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Woman claims UA flight attendant forced infant daughter to sit in dangerous position

Woman claims UA flight attendant forced infant daughter to sit in dangerous position

Old Jun 12, 2018, 8:55 pm
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Woman claims UA flight attendant forced infant daughter to sit in dangerous position

It was a SkyWest flight. United has already apologized and refunded the daughter's ticket--sounds like they are learning how to defuse PR crises...

Fox News: Woman claims UA flight attendant forced her infant daughter to sit in dangerous position
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Old Jun 12, 2018, 9:10 pm
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Originally Posted by Italian_Kayaker
It was a SkyWest flight. United has already apologized and refunded the daughter's ticket--sounds like they are learning how to defuse PR crises...

Fox News: Woman claims UA flight attendant forced her infant daughter to sit in dangerous position
The fact the woman had bought a seat in FC for her 8 mo old might have played a part in the quick response....
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Old Jun 12, 2018, 9:33 pm
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UA also has an unpublished rule banning carseats in Polaris. It will also wind up biting them one day.
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Old Jun 12, 2018, 10:21 pm
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Originally Posted by Italian_Kayaker
It was a SkyWest flight. United has already apologized and refunded the daughter's ticket--sounds like they are learning how to defuse PR crises...

Fox News: Woman claims UA flight attendant forced her infant daughter to sit in dangerous position
And/or, unlike the FA/GA, someone looked at what happened and realized they were 100% in the wrong.

My question is, if the FAs are primarily there for our safety, why do they not know the rules? And if they do, as it says somewhere she knew but said the GA has ultimate authority (which shouldnt be true, it should be up to the captain), why isnt a GA minding their own business instead of interfering in an onboard situation which is utterly and completely outside their responsibility and likely expertise, as the GAs actions clearly show. In fact, why did FA not involve the captain here.

I get the pax wanted to get home, but if this was me, the appropriate thing would be to discuss with the purser, and if it the GA was still claiming authority, to the supervisor (though realistically, it should be the captain). If this was me, Im also getting off that plane and discussing with airport supervisors. Our car seat (infant seat) can only be used facing backwards - thats how infant seats are (though you could use a convertible, but still not safe enough forward facing at 8 months), so theres no actual way to use it forward facing.

All it takes is a bit of common sense - this stuff shouldnt be happening - its ridiculous.

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Old Jun 12, 2018, 10:53 pm
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Originally Posted by emcampbe
In fact, why did FA not involve the captain here.
I would imagine the captain has more important things to take care of.
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Old Jun 13, 2018, 4:31 am
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Originally Posted by emcampbe


And/or, unlike the FA/GA, someone looked at what happened and realized they were 100% in the wrong.

My question is, if the FAs are primarily there for our safety, why do they not know the rules? And if they do, as it says somewhere she knew but said the GA has ultimate authority (which shouldnt be true, it should be up to the captain), why isnt a GA minding their own business instead of interfering in an onboard situation which is utterly and completely outside their responsibility and likely expertise, as the GAs actions clearly show. In fact, why did FA not involve the captain here.

I get the pax wanted to get home, but if this was me, the appropriate thing would be to discuss with the purser, and if it the GA was still claiming authority, to the supervisor (though realistically, it should be the captain). If this was me, Im also getting off that plane and discussing with airport supervisors. Our car seat (infant seat) can only be used facing backwards - thats how infant seats are (though you could use a convertible, but still not safe enough forward facing at 8 months), so theres no actual way to use it forward facing.

All it takes is a bit of common sense - this stuff shouldnt be happening - its ridiculous.

No they were not 100% wrong. A car seat in a car is secured in a frame that is locked down. That does not exist in an aircraft so the alignment does not really make much difference. If the baby is strapped in the capsule the capsule will provide as much protection in either direction and unless you have a bundle of crash tests done like they do for cars you would be hard pressed to prove different.
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Old Jun 13, 2018, 5:24 am
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Originally Posted by narvik
I would imagine the captain has more important things to take care of.
Seriously? More than the safety of the passengers?
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Old Jun 13, 2018, 5:42 am
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Originally Posted by narvik
I would imagine the captain has more important things to take care of.
This is absolutely a situation that the captain would and should be taking care of. If I were the captain and I found out about this from the news, rather than at the time, Id be livid.
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Old Jun 13, 2018, 6:08 am
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Originally Posted by geminidreams
No they were not 100% wrong. A car seat in a car is secured in a frame that is locked down. That does not exist in an aircraft so the alignment does not really make much difference. If the baby is strapped in the capsule the capsule will provide as much protection in either direction and unless you have a bundle of crash tests done like they do for cars you would be hard pressed to prove different.
mmmmm. Nope. The rear facing nature of a bucket seat or convertible seat backward is for a reason, it cradles the infant in a situation a extreme forward momentum like a crash. Think whip lash and otherwise.

Infant seats can be aircraft certified and are all labeled as such. Typically the only reason a car seat is not allowed is when airbags are in use, or in business pods / angled (herringbone) seats, etc.
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Old Jun 13, 2018, 7:10 am
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Originally Posted by txaggiemiles


This is absolutely a situation that the captain would and should be taking care of. If I were the captain and I found out about this from the news, rather than at the time, Id be livid.
Not a chance ... every work group has their own manual with written policies on what is and isn't allowed, what's regulatory, what's company mandated, etc. Things like car seats are not going to be in manuals that pilots are issued. Will it be in the manuals for gate agents? Probably. For flight attendants? Absolutely. Flight ops (pilots)? Nope. At some point, you need to trust your fellow co-workers to know their job and follow what they're trained on. Five minutes before departure, adding another cook to the kitchen who has no training whatsoever on what is and isn't permitted regarding car seats and trying to thumb through a flight attendant manual they've never looked at in their life isn't going to solve much. Granted - it sounds like the flight attendants were totally wrong here but pilots are not trained to second guess every customer disagreement that other work groups have at the airport. Nobody would ever get anywhere if we did!
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Old Jun 13, 2018, 7:16 am
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On the theory of the FA/GA that the child seat has to be facing foreard, then all those parents who hold their infants, rather than using the car seat need to have the infant facing the front rather than the parent. My infant would have screamed blue murder.

Kudos to the parent filing the complaint . Most of the time I am with the FAs/GAs but in this instance I just think there was some kind of power trip. I have been in the situation a couple of times where the FA just wants to make my life difficult (did not know why and you just deal with it) and I just did whatever I could to not draw attention and minimize the likelihood of the situation escalating. The reason I am on a plane is to get from point A to point B. I do not want to be removed as a security threat .

I would have doe the same thing as the mother in this situation and hope it changes the behavior of the FA and GA involved in the situation. I am glad she has brought the issue to light to ensure it does not happen to other parents.
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Old Jun 13, 2018, 7:21 am
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Originally Posted by iluv2fly
Seriously? More than the safety of the passengers?
Originally Posted by txaggiemiles
This is absolutely a situation that the captain would and should be taking care of. If I were the captain and I found out about this from the news, rather than at the time, I’d be livid.
Wait, now it's the captain's duty to personally check all infants on the plane and make sure the crew is following correct protocol regarding enforcement of baby-seating-position visa vie safety?
Because why in this described situation would two "crew members" have involved the captain themselves if they were under the impression they were correct?
These "crew members" [erroneously] told a passenger to face their child forward instead of backwards. They obviously thought that was policy. The passenger reluctantly complied.
The captain has to rely on other crew members to do THEIR job. They clearly got it wrong here.
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Old Jun 13, 2018, 7:38 am
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Originally Posted by txaggiemiles


This is absolutely a situation that the captain would and should be taking care of. If I were the captain and I found out about this from the news, rather than at the time, Id be livid.
There is nothing that outlines how a car seat should be situated in any manual or publication issued to the pilots.

A prudent Captain escalates this to a customer service or in-flight supervisor for further guidance. That is how he/she takes care of the situation.
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Old Jun 13, 2018, 7:56 am
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A refund doesn't really seem to address the issue.

Originally Posted by Hammer0425
Not a chance ... every work group has their own manual with written policies on what is and isn't allowed, what's regulatory, what's company mandated, etc. Things like car seats are not going to be in manuals that pilots are issued.
Do you actually know they're not, or just hypothesizing?
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Old Jun 13, 2018, 8:06 am
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Originally Posted by mduell
A refund doesn't really seem to address the issue.



Do you actually know they're not, or just hypothesizing?
I'm quite sure.
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